Eat Well – Train – Compete
We now have masses of scientific information which tells us that athletic performance
is closely linked to diet. In other words, the more healthily you eat, the better you are
going to swim!
Drink – Drink – Drink
Drink 2 cups of water or diluted squash 2 hours before
training
Bring a water bottle to training and competition filled
with water or VERY dilute squash – think of it as being
part of your gear, you wouldn’t come without trunks or
a swimsuit
During the session DRINK the contents of your water
bottle. Drink after each set in the session. If you are
given 100m Front crawl to swim don’t stop after 50m
for a drink finish the 100m and drink in the rest time
Sleep
Sleep is important because it is the time when you
grow and recovery from daily activity takes place.
Get a good night’s sleep before a competition to
enable you to swim fast
Eat Well
Your day should start with Breakfast
Eat a high carbohydrate breakfast accompanied by
some fruit or fruit juice and maybe even a yogurt.
Remember to have a drink
Mid Morning
Cereal bar and a drink, avoid fizzy drinks
Lunch
If you eat school lunch select the healthy option such as
pasta, rice or baked potato plus some fruit and a drink
If you have a packed lunch eat all your sandwiches plus
some fruit and a drink
Mid Afternoon
Banana or cereal bar plus a drink
Home from School
For example: Home by 4.00pm. Have a light meal or
snack plus a drink
Training at 6.30pm don’t eat after 5.30pm.
During Training/Time Trials
Drink the contents of your water bottle.
If taking part in time trials or club championships bring some digestive biscuits or a
cereal bar to nibble on
After Training / On Journey Home
Drink a carton of fruit juice but no fizzy drinks. Have a snack in your bag ready to eat, a
banana, cereal bar or digestive biscuits to build up your energy levels again. Try to eat
within 30 minutes of the end of your session.
Supper
Have a high carbohydrate meal with some protein. Add to your meal by eating bread
with it or drinking fruit juice. If you are really tired when you get home at least have a
bowl of cereal with some semi-skimmed milk
High Carbohydrate Breakfasts
Cereals – try some wholegrain varieties e.g. branflakes, shredded wheat,
porridge, Weetabix or muesli. Add chopped banana or other fresh and dried fruits
to increase the carbohydrate content. Use skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, or
yogurt with the cereal. Don’t choose the same cereal every day and don’t go for
the sweetened cereals e.g. Frosties
Toast – use wholemeal or wholegrain bread. Always go for thick sliced bread. Try
raisin bread for a change. Take care not to smother it in high fat spreads
Porridge sweetened with honey, raisins and dried apricots
Scotch pancakes with syrup
Toasted crumpets/teacakes with a little butter
English muffins and marmite
Bagels with jam/honey
Low fat milkshake with banana/fresh fruit/low fat yogurt
Fresh fruit and yogurts
Beans on toast
Boiled egg and toast
Light Meals and Snacks
Filled sandwiches (thick sliced), rolls, pitta breads. Choose fillings such as
cottage cheese, peanut butter, banana, salad, honey, marmite, tuna, chicken,
turkey, ham or combinations of these e.g. ham salad
Thick vegetable/ pulse based ( made with beans) soups and crackers
Rice or pasta salad
Beans or scrambled/poached eggs on toast
Toasted sandwiches – thick sliced with one of the fillings listed above. If you want
cheese go for a lower fat option such as Edam
Jacket potato and filling – opt for low fat fillings such as tuna (no mayonnaise)
and cottage cheese rather than cheese
Risotto
Tinned spaghetti in a tomato sauce
Pasta with a light tomato based sauce
Snacks on the run
Sandwiches as described above
Low fat yogurts and fromage frais
Fresh fruit – apples, bananas, nectarines, oranges, grapes etc
English muffins, scones, crumpets
Scotch pancakes – no butter or margarine
Dried fruit – raisins, apricots etc
Cereal bars
Nuts and dried fruit combinations
Rice cakes, crackers and dry breakfast cereal
Main Meals
Spaghetti Bolognese
Chili Con Carne
Chicken with Potatoes
Jacket potato with tuna
Have fresh fruit, yogurt or jelly for desert
At competition
Breakfast before you leave
Arrive on time for warm up
30 mins warm up, or whatever your coach says
Replace fluids
Less than one hour before race just keep to fluid replacement
More than one hour try to eat a little
Best to eat little and often during the day to keep energy levels high
Eating too much at once can make you feel heavy and tired
Try to eat during the longer breaks
Take your own food with you
Take enough fluid to last the whole day
Have something to eat and drink immediately after your last race
Avoid Burger King/McDonalds on your way home – high fat foods delay recovery
Have some high carbohydrate foods + protein prepared for you to eat as soon as
you arrive home
Have a good night’s rest especially if you are competing over the whole weekend
Snacks to have between events (1-2 hour breaks)
Small can fruit
Bananas and other fruit
Hot cross bun or raisin bread
A small sandwich with a light filling. Try a banana sandwich
Rice cakes you can top them with honey or jam
Bagels
Fruit scones
Plain crackers with jam
Jam or honey sandwiches
Carton of rice pudding
In order to be able to train hard and swim fast at competition, you need to eat a well
balanced diet consisting of 50-60% carbohydrate (e.g. pasta, potatoes, beans, cereals,
bread, etc) 10-15% protein (meat, fish, eggs and soya substitutes, etc) and 25-30% fat
(concentrating more on vegetable and fish oils rather than dairy produce - fish like
salmon, tuna and mackerel are among the best oily fish to eat and things like olives,
avocados and nuts provide useful fats). Also, guard against dehydration. Pre-hydrate
before you come to training and drink the contents of your water bottle during the
session and rehydrate afterwards. As a rough guide, you should be drinking 6-8
glasses of water (rather than fizzy drinks) a day. Not only will this help you train, it will
also help you concentrate better at school and work.
Eat FIVE portions of fruit and/or vegetables a day. Remember that half a tin of baked
beans counts as one portion. The vitamins contained in these foods not only help
make and keep you healthy but assist your body in producing the energy you need for
training and competition.
The most efficient source of energy comes from carbohydrate but needs to be eaten
well in advance of training and competition to be effective. The easiest way of doing
this is to eat regular meals and to plan your meals in such a way that you are not
swimming on a full stomach. Imagine the sugar contained in sweets and fizzy drinks
like a firework. There is a big bang (i.e. energy) and then nothing soon after.
Carbohydrates are more like a lump of coal which burns more slowly (also providing
energy) but does this over a longer period of time. In other words, a bowl of pasta
eaten the evening before a gala will have a longer lasting effect than a chocolate bar in
the morning.
Begin reloading your carbohydrate stores after training in preparation for the next
session. Eating a tuna sandwich and an apple within fifteen minutes after your training
session would be ideal and will be a lot better than a bar of chocolate.
You need to plan your eating during a gala as getting it wrong could be costly in terms
of your performance. Have something like a bowl of cereal and some fruit for breakfast.
Make sure that you get up early enough to be able to eat breakfast and do not be
tempted to eat nothing. For lunch some pasta and tinned fruit (preferably not at the
same time!) is a good idea. Try to eat as soon as the lunch break starts rather than at
the end just before the afternoon warm up. Most important, do not eat too much as this
will leave you feeling sluggish. It is much better if you snack during the day between
races (without overdoing it) rather than just the one meal at lunch time. For snacks,
bananas and cashew nuts are an ideal and tasty combination and will do
you a lot more good than chocolate bars!
Potassium
Potassium intake is important when competing. Potassium's task is a formidable one,
primarily because of its role as an electrolyte, a mineral that takes on a positive or
negative charge when dissolved in the watery medium of body fluids. (Sodium and
chloride are other important electrolytes.) To regulate blood pressure and muscle
contraction, and to keep nerves, kidneys, and a host of other body processes working
properly, the body needs to maintain these electrolytes in a delicate balance.
In addition, potassium aids in converting blood sugar (glucose, the body's foremost
fuel), into glycogen, a form of energy that can be stored in the muscles and liver and
released as needed.
What are the best food sources?
Bananas, oranges, watermelon, cantaloupe, vegetables, meats, milk, grains, and
legumes all have plenty of potassium. To give you a sense of how easy it is to obtain
from your daily diet, we've listed the milligram count in some foods, below:
• 1 medium baked potato: 844.4 mg
• 8 oz. prune juice: 706.6 mg
• 1 avocado: 602 mg
• 1 cup raisins: 575 mg
• 10 dried apricots: 482 mg
• 3 oz. salmon: 453.9 mg
• 1 medium banana: 451.4 mg
• 1 cup mushrooms: 277.7 mg
Refueling the Body After Workout
Without getting too scientific, our bodies – specifically our muscles – need fuel and the
only energy source that can power them is ATP (adenosine triphosphate). Our muscles
store enough ATP for just a very short time.
For back-up, our energy system is supplied by fat, carbohydrates and protein
throughout the duration of aerobic exercise. As a swimmer’s body struggles to keep up
with the demand placed on it by its muscles, breakdown occurs.
Athletes can recover more effectively, work out harder more frequently, increase
muscle mass and enhance physical adaptations by not only watching what they eat,
but when they eat it.
Swimmers skipping breakfast because they are going straight from morning practice to
school and don’t have time to eat is not a good idea.
It’s important to refuel your body after workout, and that window of opportunity
is open for just 30 minutes after exercise.
Recipe for Low-fat Granola (Muesli). It’s great tasting and extremely healthy.
It contains carbohydrates, protein, fibre and plenty of vitamins and minerals. The fats
present are mono-unsaturated – the good kind. It can be made in large batches, stored
for up to a month in the freezer, or a week at room temperature in an airtight container.
It’s a convenient snack for a swimmer on the run and is much healthier than many
store-bought granolas, which are usually high in saturated fat and contain lots of
preservatives.
4 Cups Oats
¼ Cup Honey
1 ½ Cups Sliced Almonds
¼ Cup Olive Oil
1 Cup Plain Shelled Pumpkin Seeds
1 tsp. Vanilla
½ Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 ½ Cup Dried Cranberries or Raisins
½ tsp. Cinnamon
1 Cup Chopped Dried Apricots (no need to soak)
½ tsp. Salt (optional)
* Preheat oven to 350F (175C) degrees. In a large bowl, mix together oats, almonds,
pumpkin seeds, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.
* In a small saucepan, warm honey and oil over low heat. Stir in vanilla.
* Pour honey mixture over oat mixture, and gently stir to combine.
* Spread granola out onto a large baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, stirring every
10 minutes.
* Allow granola to cool completely. Stir in fruit and enjoy a healthy, well-balanced snack
after workout.
To find out more about nutrition, visit the BBC website where you can learn how to
avoid dehydration, what to eat and when to it eat. It works for the top swimmers so why
not give it a try yourself!